Page 105 of Desperate Desires

“I’ll be the one smiling back,” I said, grinning at the picture she made.

The truck pulled into the underground parking lot at the hotel, and I exited with Michelle, walking her to the private elevator.

There were half a dozen men and women from Sigma waiting there to attend to Michelle. And that wasn’t all.

“Shelly!!!” I raised my eyebrows as half a dozen squealing women accosted my wife in front of the elevator doors, and I squinted against the assault on my ears.

“Oh. My God!!! You look so beautiful!”

“Is this him?”

“I know him!”

“Hey, you’re Sammy’s friend, right?”

“Ladies, it is my pleasure to meet you. Michelle?”

“Oooh!!”

“Oh my God! Shut up,” she chided her girls.

I grinned and wrapped my hand around her wrist, savoring the feel of her satin soft skin.

“I hate leaving you at all, but I know you got things to do. And I’m leaving you in good hands,” I said, pulling her to me for a semi-chaste kiss.

“See you later,” she said, eyes half-lidded and looking at me like I was the answer to her prayers.

I hoped I was. God knew she was mine.

She said she loves me.

I hadn’t said it back yet.

But I was going to.

Because I did love her. More than anything in the whole world, I loved my wife.

And I was going to tell her.

Soon.

Chapter 34-Shelly

Manhattan had welcomed its very first Stargazer Hotel just a few years ago, and it had done so with all the fanfare of a royal coronation.

The city’s skyline, already glittering with ambition and excess, now had a jewel that outshone the rest.

It was a shimmering palace of indulgence nestled among the concrete giants.

This wasn’t just a hotel. It was a world unto itself, a five-star wonder plucked straight from the glossy pages of luxury magazines and the fevered imaginations of dreamers.

The kind of place people only glimpsed on TV, with whispered rumors of its opulence and mystique swirling like urban legends.

The Volkovs owned a piece of it, but I had never been there. Far as I knew, none of them had. And as we walked through the elevators to the private penthouse floor, which had been reserved for our party, I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven.

Inside, everything dripped with extravagance.

From the gleaming marble floors imported from distant quarries to the chandeliers that glittered like captured stardust.

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